Rescue Mission
by megaflash
Summary: Bill's coworker involves him in a breakout


Bill put down his drink. "You want to free a what?"

Across the table from him, his friend, Yuri, took a sip of something strong. "I vish to free a sphinx."

The pair of them sat in a small and dingy wizarding pub in Cairo, Egypt. Smoke curled across the roof, and the low murmurs of other patrons filled the room.

"Anybody capable of capturing a sphinx will have something strong to keep it in," Bill said. "You'll need the help of an incredibly skilled cursebreaker if you want to be successful."

"Da," agreed Yuri. "Do you know any?"

Bill frowned as the Romanian wizard chuckled. He pulled out several sheets of parchment with hastily scribbled plans of a building.

"I got a look inside. Ze only problem is ze cage."

He handed Bill another sheet with runes on it. "Zat is vhat I remember."

"Hmm." Bill frowned. "This isn't that bad. Looks like they charmed the cage to be visible, but unapproachable"

"Can you do it?"

"Of course I can do it," snapped Bill. "But I would have to be right against the charms to tear them down. You would need to protect our backs while I work. Even then that still leaves us right in front of an angry sphinx if we succeed."

"I haf a plan."

"Do tell."

"We grab slaver and toss him in when you open ze doors."

Bill leaned back in his seat. "That could give us enough time to escape, but it's no guarantee."

"Ya, but I hate poaching. It vould be poetic justice, I zink."

Bill nodded and the pair finished their drinks. They spent the rest of the evening planning.

/\/\/\/\

The sphinx was being held by a group called The Pharaoh's Guard. They operated out of some ruins to the south of Cairo, on the very edge of the desert. Wards prevented muggles from stumbling upon their base, and wizards usually needed an invitation to enter.

Bill and Yuri crept along a low wall at the back of the ruins. The wards only covered part of the ancient Egyptian masonry, a mistake that the pair exploited to get close.

"Ve are here," Yuri told Bill, gesturing towards the wards.

"Alright, keep a lookout," Bill replied. He dug a small hole in the sand while Yuri kept watch. Inside the hole he place a completely round stone covered in glyphs.

"Zat is a wardstone," Yuri noted, still looking for danger.

"Yes," said Bill, grinning, "Neat little quirk about warding. Expanding a place's wards leaves you underneath them without setting off any alarms. We'll still activate them when we leave, though."

"Zey will haf better zings to worry about by zen."

A wave of static hummed over them and there was a slight popping sound. Bill stood and walked forward, Yuri following. The two men paused at the door to the back entrance. Applying silencing and disillusionment spells, Bill turned the handle and pushed, revealing an empty stone hallway, torchlight casting shadows everywhere. Wisps of conversation floated towards them.

Bill moved forward, confident his companion was following. The door closed behind him silently. The hallway opened to a small room occupied by three wizards, who were playing a card game and laughing. Judging by the bottles around the table, they had also been drinking. Each wore a cloak with a stylized golden eye on the breast and their hoods were pulled back. A wooden door was set into the opposite side of the room.

"At least a thousand galleons," said an older wizard. "Probably more."

"A sphinx is really worth that much?" asked a young wizard from across the table.

"Oh yes," replied the older wizard. "They are highly sought after."

Bill crept into the room, moving along the left side. He stopped at the door to the next room and tapped it twice. His light knocking was repeated a second later, indicating Yuri had made it across the room as well.

Bill sent a weak banishing charm at the table, scattering drinks and cards everywhere. In the confusion, he opened the door and slipped through into the next chamber.

It was a large open air room with a balcony halfway up along the wall. In the middle lay the sphinx inside a stone cage. The creature's gaze followed him as he approached. Bill dispelled his sneaking charms and crouched near the bars.

"Would you like to leave?" he asked, praying Yuri's plan worked. The man had continued on to find the leader of Pharaoh's Guard.

The sphinx's eyes narrowed, and her tail twitched back and forth.

"And what do you want in return?" she purred.

"Don't eat me or my companion," replied Bill, his heart pounding in his chest. "We will also give you the man in charge."

Yuri appeared then, dragging a stunned, pudgy man in a cloak behind him.

The sphinx perked up upon sighting him. "Very well. I agree."

Bill began to cast rapidly at the cage. The wards were impressive, but it only took him a minute to figure out their fatal flaw. They were tied to the stone cage, which was made out of stone transfigured from the ground. He nodded at Yuri and began undoing the transfiguration. The cage melted back into the floor.

Without their anchor, the wards keeping the sphinx in place failed with a shower of sparkles. Yuri enervated the man and kicked him forward. Bill backed away as the sphinx pounced, razor sharp talons eliciting screams from her prey.

Yuri pulled him towards the entrance as the back room they had entered from burst open. The two men ran into the desert, chased by the screams of the Pharaoh's Guard being messily reorganized.

**A/N**

**House/Team: Ravenclaw**

**Class Subject: Transfiguration**

**Story Category: Drabble**

**Prompt: [Creature: Sphinx]  
**

**Word Count: 951**


End file.
